WASHINGTON (AP) — When Washington, D.C., voters last selected both a congressional delegate and mayor in a single election cycle, gasoline cost $1.33 per gallon and George H.W. Bush occupied the White House.
They’re preparing to make those choices again this autumn — in dramatically altered conditions.
With the district approaching crucial primaries this month to select nominees for these positions, President Donald Trump’s impact on the federal city has become a dominant campaign theme. Candidates are evaluating the best strategies for dealing with Trump’s Republican administration and congressional oversight of the predominantly Democratic municipality’s operations.
“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”
Following Trump’s return to the presidency last year, the National Guard maintains an indefinite presence as part of what he describes as a crime-fighting initiative. He’s placing his personal mark on the capital’s historic monuments. Additionally, significant federal workforce reductions have intensified economic challenges for the city, which faces one of the nation’s highest jobless rates.
The district has historically maintained a complex, often tense relationship with federal authorities: Although residents elect local officials, Washington’s federal district status restricts their actual influence over municipal matters. This already constrained independence has faced additional pressure under Trump and his federal law enforcement intervention, which began last year.
This autumn, sitting council members Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie lead the competition to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, who won election in 2014. The primary contenders seeking to replace longtime congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton are Robert White Jr. and Brooke Pinto, both serving on the D.C. council.
Primaries scheduled for June 16 will determine these positions, which in the heavily Democratic city typically determine November’s winners.
Washington differs from other municipalities in lacking control over its destiny.
Voter options exist through a restricted home rule compact approved by Congress in 1973 that permitted residents to choose their local government officials.
However, Congress maintains authority over municipal matters, including budget approval and laws enacted by the city council. Congressional representatives elected by constituents thousands of miles distant regularly propose measures affecting city operations.
This arrangement requires local officials to navigate constituent pressures alongside congressional and administrative demands — a balancing act Bowser repeatedly faced.
Throughout Trump’s initial presidency, she directed the creation and designation of Black Lives Matter Plaza, located north of the White House, in 2020. Months following Trump’s second-term inauguration, she consented to its removal following pressure from congressional Republicans.
This action, federal workforce cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, and increased federal law enforcement and National Guard deployment have become key election themes. Currently, approximately 3,500 troops operate in the city — a figure officials expect will reach 5,000 as the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations near.
Trump has consistently claimed his intervention has transformed Washington into “one of the safest” and most attractive cities nationwide, experiencing a significant crime reduction.
George told The Associated Press that her primary focus involves tackling “the affordability crisis here in D.C., which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”
McDuffie identified public safety as his main concern as crime remains problematic. He proposes adding 1,000 police officers across four years, fully staffing the 911 call center following years of persistent understaffing, and implementing a public health approach to violence prevention.
“We cannot have an affordable city,” he said, “without public safety as its foundation.”
Both candidates pledged to strengthen the city’s legal protections against federal interference and criticized Bowser for excessive cooperation with federal authorities targeting the city’s immigrant population.
Alex Dodd, co-founder of Free DC, an activist group supporting city independence, said the organization endorsed George because of her willingness to be more aggressive in opposing Trump and congressional Republicans.
“When our leaders comply with this administration before being forced, they are giving this regime an enormous advantage,” he said.
Pat Wheeler, a native Washingtonian and communications consultant who served as a department head at Morgan State University, applauded Bowser for cooperating with the Trump administration on some aspects. She noted failure to do so could have sparked retribution and a loss of what little control city officials have.
“Trump can snap his finger and the whole Republican Congress will say, ‘Let’s put a federal control board over the mayor,’” she said.
The D.C. delegate position carries no voting power, but provides the district’s nearly 700,000 residents, who lack other congressional representation, a platform through House floor speeches and legislation proposals.
However, critics argued the 88-year-old Norton became less effective during Trump’s second administration and insufficiently visible in challenging administrative and congressional interference with city autonomy. She submitted paperwork ending her reelection campaign in January.
Norton, serving 18 terms, has maintained a distinguished career. Both she and her predecessor, Walter Fauntroy Jr., achieved national prominence emerging from the civil rights movement.
“Eleanor Holmes Norton is maybe one of the last major political figures who comes out of the civil rights movement,” said Matt Dallek, a political historian at The George Washington University. “It’s a real passing of the torch.”
Campaigns for her replacement have emphasized local autonomy, Trump’s influence, and affordability concerns. Leading candidates and council members Pinto and White have also engaged in personal disputes questioning campaign funding sources and Republican connections.
Pinto told the AP her primary objective involves self-governance, which has “never been a true reality for the people of D.C.”
She identified affordability for middle-class and working families as another priority.
White’s campaign stated he’s “not willing to continue to see our tax dollars used to allow DC police to cooperate and conspire with federal agents to trample our constitutional rights and to terrorize our communities.”
Brenda Manley, a longtime resident of Ward 7, an area with a storied Black history across the Anacostia River, said the city was well managed despite the tensions with Trump. But she said she hoped all the candidates would spend more time on the campaign focusing on programs that are beneficial to all residents, like a tuition grant program championed by Norton or major strides made in education during Bowser’s tenure.
“Those type of programs matter,” Manley said.
